LTE services are growing across Latin America. Following launches in other countries, Movistar Peru announced it will commercially launch its LTE services on Jan. 2. The service will initially be available in seven districts within the Lima region. Movistar Peru named its LTE service “Vuela.” The telco plans to invest about $1.5 billion in infrastructure over the next three years.
In Brazil, Oi and Vivo continued to expand LTE services. Oi launched LTE services in the country’s biggest city: São Paulo. According to the rules of telecom regulator Anatel, carriers have until Dec. 31 to launch LTE in São Paulo. Oi noted that its coverage reaches 73% of the city’s urban area. In addition, Oi announced that it is launching LTE in Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná.
Vivo, the Brazilian unit of Spanish Telefónica, increased its LTE coverage to 73 cities, reaching a potential market of 56 million people.
Smartphones: The Latin American region is expected to ship 154.7 million smartphone units by 2017, accounting for 9.2% of the global market, according to a recently published mobile phone forecast from IDC. The Asia/Pacific region will lead the market with 58.5%. According to IDC, worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to surpass one billion units in 2013, representing a 39.3% growth over 2012. From a volume perspective, emerging markets including the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa will all post market-beating growth rates from 2013 to 2017. The average selling price of smartphones in Latin America could decrease from $288 in 2013 to $246 in 2017.
Below expectations: AMD has not reached its growth goals in Brazil or Latin America. The semiconductor company expected to close 2013 with an increase of about 25% to 30% in revenue, but it could end the year below that number. As Ronaldo Miranda, AMD’s VP for Latin America, explained to RCR Wireless News, growth could be 10% in Brazil and across Latin America. The less than expected growth is due to PC consumers buying fewer units than projected. Miranda noted that Mexico had a very good year and is number two in Latin America, behind Brazil. On the opposite side, Argentina, which used to be No. 2, fell to the No. 4 position — Colombia is No. 3, Peru No. 5, and Chile No. 6.
Looking ahead, Miranda explained that AMD will not focus on what everybody else is doing but work to better understand consumers’ needs and deliver what they want. Miranda said that the smartphone and tablet markets are consolidating. AMD is looking at other industries as well such as games and auto-mobility. By 2015, half of the company’s total global revenue will come from other areas outside of the PC industry.
More news from Latin American region:
- French telecom company Orange is nearing a deal to sell its Dominican Republic unit. According to Bloomberg, the Luxembourg-based cable and telecommunications company Altice could be the buyer.
- During 2013, Brazil added 7,000 new radio base stations. The total number of sites grew from 55,448 in July 2012 to 62,139 currently.
- Mexico’s government has approved a budget of $155 million for the country’s newly formed regulator Ifetel, which is tasked with sparking competition among operators to push down the price of telecom services.
